A Universe on Tiptoe
W. Carl Ketcherside
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"For I reckon that the sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the splendor, as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us" (Romans 8:18).
One can never explain the tremendous impact made upon the Roman world by the good news concerning Jesus unless he takes into account the condition then existing in the hearts of those who composed the Empire. And no word better describes that condition than hopelessness. The historian Freeman writes, "From Mummius to Augustus the Roman city stands as the living mistress of a dead world, and from Augustus to Theodosius the mistress becomes as lifeless as her subjects."
A black pall of fatalism hung like a lowering cloud over the hearts of slaves, freemen and patricians. As Canon Farrar puts it, "Gluttony, caprice, extravagance, ostentation, impurity, rioted in the heart of a society which knew of no other means by which to break the monotony of its weariness, or alleviate the anguish of its despair."
It is difficult for the student to determine whether prevailing vice struck a death blow to religion, or whether loss of faith in the gods produced the heathen cruelty and unfathomable corruption. Sometimes cause and effect are closely interwoven. Of one thing we can be certain, and that is that when the restraints of religion were most needed they were not apparent and undisciplined hearts were left to grope unhindered in the stinking muck of unbridled licentiousness and degradation.
The historian writes, "The upper classes were destitute of faith, yet terrified at skepticism. They had long learnt to treat the current mythology as a mass of worthless fables, scarcely amusing enough for even a schoolboy's laughter, but they were the ready dupes of every wandering quack...The mass of the populace either accorded to the old beliefs a nominal adherence which saved them of giving any thought to the matter, and reduced their creed and their morals to a survival of national habits, or else they plunged with eager curiosity into the crowd of foreign cults."
Many of the intellectuals espoused the Stoic philosophy which was derived from that of the Cynics, and was established at Athens by Zeno about 300 B.C. His most famous pupil was Cleanthes of Assos, from whose Hymn to Zeus, Paul quotes in Acts 17:28. Among the famous Romans who later adopted this philosophy, our readers will probably recognize the names of Cato the Younger, Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Now read this historical quotation.
"But the Stoicism on which they leaned for support amid the terrors and temptations of that awful epoch utterly failed to provide a remedy against the universal degradation. It aimed at cherishing an insensibility which gave no real comfort, and for which it offered no adequate mo-tive. It aimed at repressing the passions by a violence so unnatural that with them it also crushed some of the gentlest and most elevating emotions...It made a vice of compassion which Christianity inculcated as a virtue; it cherished a haughtiness which Christianity discouraged as a sin...Its marked characteristic was a despairing sadness, which became specially prominent in its most sincere adherents. Its favorite theme was the glorification of suicide, which wiser moralists had severely reprobated, but which many Stoics belauded as the one sure refuge against oppression and outrage. It was a philosophy which was indeed able to lacerate the heart with a righteous indignation against the crimes and follies of mankind, but which vainly strove to resist, and which scarcely even hoped to stem, the ever-swelling tide of vice and misery. For wretchedness it had no pity; on vice it looked with impotent disdain."
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Both Zeno and Cleanthes committed suicide, and one historian informs us that by the time of Trajan, who became emperor shortly after the death of John, the apostle, suicide had become a "national usage." One of the remarkable things noted in the Roman writings of that day is the great variety of Latin phrases for suicide, indicative of the frequency of the crime. The way of life had become the way of death in Rome. Men mused by day and night on how to "end it all."
It was to those living in such an atmosphere of crushing sorrow and complete despair that Paul wrote this one great chapter. In doing so he met the problem of human suffering and gave the answer to it. God had invaded the earth in the person of a Son to share our lot. He suffered in all areas of life as we suffer. By his identification with us he made it possible for us to also be partaker of his "all things," as he partook of our "all things." And this includes his eternal splendor. All that goes with the life of God is mine. I am an heir of glory!
In the flesh I cannot grasp all that is involved in everlasting splendor. I am caught up in the human predicament. I am inhibited while in the body by a time-space sequence. In such a state the glory cannot be revealed. But I can be sure of one thing. Temporal suffering (sharing with the Son on earth), is not to be compared with the splendor (sharing with the Son in the glorified body). There is something else, something outside, something beyond. The drawn curtains will not open on oblivion, but upon splendor. I shall come into my own.
No wonder this concept swept the tired, weary, jaded and despairing hearts of the Roman Empire. It will also revive the "unlaughing generation" of our own time. Never in recent centuries have the eyes of the young been so listless and staring, never have their countenances been so blank, as of late. This is the effect of a neo-pagan culture, of a meaningless treadmill existence, of a worship of false gods which have again proven to be vanities. Once again it is either the Spirit or suicide. Either the Light must come in or men will go out like lights. Ancient Rome has been re-incarnated in our western world. Once more the Letter to the Romans is as fresh as the morning newspaper. It is God's Life and Time issued in one cover.
"For the created universe waits with eager expectations for God's sons to be revealed" (Romans 8:19).
This is a concept so vast and profound that it completely overshadows the sufferings of this present life. Not only will the sons of God march in the great triumphal procession of the redeemed but the entire universe is involved and is eagerly awaiting this tremendous event. It will signal the culmination of God's magnificent plan of the ages.
The original term for "eager expectation" is one which literally means to stretch out the neck in an attempt to see. J. B. Phillips translates it to read that creation is "standing on tiptoe," looking down the road and waiting for the appearance of the glorified host.
I never read this without remembering the coming to town of the circus when I was a little lad. In those days the performers always staged a parade to the
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The Romans knew what was meant by a triumphal procession. They had witnessed the return of famous generals, heading great armies which took hours to pass a given point. They had listened to the accolades accorded in the forum, and seen the honors heaped upon the victors who had overcome the hardships of the battle.
Now the apostle portrays Jesus coming as a conquering hero, the super-star of all time, leading the long line of saints. He rides a white horse. His eyes flame like fire. On his head are many diadems. On his robe and on his leg are written the name, "King of kings and Lord of lords." Stretching far off to mingle with the blue haze crowning the mountains of infinity are the armies of heaven, following on white horses, clothed in fine linen, clean and shining. They come from every nation, language, tongue and people.
Suddenly every created thing in the universe- -in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, all that is in them-- bursts into a great cry, "Praise and honor, glory and might, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever" (Revelations 5:13). I am going to be there. I am going to join in the shout. And when the sons of God come into their own, the entire universe will share in their ultimate and glorious destiny. What a scene! What a triumph!
"It was made the victim of frustration, not by its own choice, but because of him who made it so; yet always there was hope, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and splendor of the children of God" (Romans 8:20, 21).
Every phrase in this quotation is a thrill to my heart. The created universe is the victim of frustration. The root word is the Latin frustra, in vain. That is why the King James version renders it "subject to vanity." Man was made to be the ruler of the material universe. When he sinned, the dominion over which he held sway became the victim of his dereliction. Its original purpose was thwarted and defeated.
Man fell by his own choice. As a rational being he made a decision, and his guilt demanded just punishment. But the realm of nature had no choice. The ground was cursed for man's sake. Thorns and thistles were borne profusely in contravention to the original design of producing useful herbs and fruits.
The creator found it necessary to deflect the universe from its pristine purity out of love for man. Instead of a relationship of joy in a synchronized system, it was said that man should eat the produce of the earth in sorrow all the days of his life. No longer would the earth sustain man upon it. Now it would open up its jaws to swallow him from sight. The decomposition of his frame would feed the crawling skin worms. His dust would mingle with the elements of the earth. Far from being a realm of beauty the earth would become a vast charnel house, polluted with the vapors and stench from decaying matter.
The decision to thus subject the earth to a perverted purpose so that sinful man light live upon it until the ravages of death claimed him was made by God. But it was for a limited time. When man was redeemed from corruption the earth would be also. When man was given a new body there would be a new earth. And there would be no more curse. Neither could sin or anything that defiles ever enter.
Always there has been hope. The curse of the created world was co-extensive with the curse upon man. The hope of the universe is identified with the hope of man. Man will be freed from the shackles of mortality by the resurrection from the dead, the great revival; or by
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"Up to the present, we know, the whole created universe groans in all its parts as if in the pangs of childbirth" (Romans 8:22).
The created universe is not a conglomeration of unrelated units or circumstances. It is so closely integrated that it can be personified and considered as a body. The sin of man could affect the whole structure and frustrate it "in all its parts." The interrelationship of all the parts so that the universe is said to groan as one body is an argument for origin by intelligent design rather than by sheer chance.
So long as the physical body of man suffers and is tormented by pain, so long will the universe be subjected to corruption, crying out, moaning and groaning because of its ignominious state. But the pains are like those of childbirth. They betoken the advent of new life. There is a spirit of hope despite the agony. God's purpose will be realized. Suffering is not the normal way of existence for the universe. Some day the purpose of it will be seen, exactly as in the case of childbirth.
"And not only so, but even we, who have received the Spirit as the first-fruits of God's promised inheritance, are inwardly groaning while awaiting the culmination of our adoption through the redemption of our bodies" (8:23).
Suffering is the lot of all who are in the flesh. All of creation is forced to agonize because of sin. Not only is this true of the universe as a whole, but even the children of God, while in the flesh, are not exempt. It is true that these have received the Spirit as a pledge from God that glory awaits, but the indwelling Spirit is no guarantee that they will not suffer from maladies in the flesh. The outward man of the Christian will perish the same as that of the skeptic or unbeliever.
For this reason we cannot assume that because one suffers, he is out of harmony with God. Saints endure pain the same as other sinners. The difference lies in the fact that the latter suffer hopelessly. Their hope resides in death and not in what lies beyond. The Spirit does not prevent aging nor offset its natural twinges and discomforts, although a knowledge of the Spirit will strengthen one to endure and provide him a happier outlook on life here and hereafter.
The indwelling Spirit is a divine deposit given to us as a constant reminder that God does not forget. He will not "scrub out the mission" upon which we are dispatched from the day of our birth from above until we enter into slumber and the spirit returns to its source. There will be frustrations and distresses along the way. These link us to the created universe. But there will be an undying hope that none of this is useless. It acts to produce for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Our adoption is not yet completed. It involves the whole man, and the physical part has not yet been redeemed. By his death on the cross Jesus ransomed the spirit, the inner man. He purchased the body, but did not redeem it because it is mortal and therefore still subject to degeneration, decay and death. We were bought with a price. We belong to God
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Our bodies will be redeemed by the resurrection. Then we will not be in flesh and blood. God will give us a body according to his own design or choice. It will be adapted to life in an immortal and incorruptible state. Our present bodies, in which we groan, are designed for functioning in a material realm, an elemental environment. We are now awaiting our transformation. It will be a glorious release from pain and irksome toil.
The faithful child of God is destined to dwell in three states, or kingdoms. These are the kingdoms of nature, grace and eternity. Each is entered by birth, but the birth can only adapt one for the state into which it inducts him. To enter the first he is born of his mother's womb. To enter the second he must be born of the water and of the Spirit. To enter the third he must be born of the grave. All three, being a birth, involve a coming forth, but the coming forth is limited to the realm into which one is deposited.
The first birth results from generation, the second from regeneration, and the third from resurrection. In each case there is a freeing of one from the previous condition which held him captive, a victory over that which enshrouded him. The first results in victory over the womb, the second in victory over sin, and the third in victory over mortality. When one gains the victory over sin through the blood of Christ, his adoption papers are filed. When he gains the victory over mortality they are completed. Then the saying of scripture will come true. "Death is swallowed up, victory is won." And "as we have worn the likeness of the man made of dust, so we shall wear the likeness of the heavenly man" (1 Corinthians 15:49). Praise the Lord for such a glorious hope!